by Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

by Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

NEW YORK - It feels like we've been on Samsung smartwatch watch for some time now (just as we've been watching to see what Apple does in the emerging category). And now that Samsung has done its part by officially revealing the Galaxy Gear at an event simulcast from Berlin, the watchful eyes will turn to Cupertino, Calif., where Apple is staging its own media event on Sept. 10.

Samsung's watch starts to hit stores on Sept. 25 globally, but Samsung has not officially announced pricing or precise U.S. availability just yet (beyond saying October), though $299 has been widely reported.

But the watch will launch with Samsung's Galaxy Note 3. In fact, the Note 3 is required to even use Galaxy Gear. That's a major hurdle for anyone not the least bit interested in a 5.7-inch "phablet," nice as it appears to be.

The Samsung reps at a New York media event weren't saying when, or even if, Galaxy Gear might work with other Samsung smartphones or tablets, but I'm betting it will, lest Samsung severely limit its market.

When you sync Galaxy Gear with Note 3 (via low-energy Bluetooth), you can make or answer calls, and glance at texts, e-mails and other alerts from your wrist. Through a Smart Relay feature, you can pick up your phone to dig deeper into those messages - the Note will have already opened the appropriate app.

The square-ish watch face is a 1.63-inch Amoled display with a resolution of 320 by 320. The watch isn't bad looking - it comes in six colors - and it felt pretty comfortable the moment I put it on. The band is adjustable but still might not be an ideal fit on the thickest wrists. Galaxy Gear weighs about 2.6 ounces.

You can move from watch face (customizable through the Note 3) to notifications to the various apps on the phone by swiping and tapping, which doesn't take long to get used to.

A 1.9-megapixel autofocus camera sits on the watchband and can be used to capture stills or video. Pointing the band at the subject of your photo felt a little weird to me, but then again so does taking pictures with something like Google Glass. Welcome to the age of wearable computing. Photos can be saved to the Note 3 or the watch itself, which has 4 gigabytes of memory and an 800 MHz processor. You can also leave voice reminders on the watch.

Samsung says there will be 70 apps at launch and will include Banjo, Evernote, Glympse, Path and TripIt. An app on the watch called Vivino lets you take a picture of a bottle of wine and discover whether it's worth drinking. You manage your watch apps through the Note.

Among other features is a pedometer, stopwatch, timer and the ability to play music. You can also use the watch to help you find a missing Note 3, or for that matter the Note to find the watch - devices will beep, light up or vibrate.

If you're wearing the watch and walk far away from the companion Note, the phone screen will automatically lock. It will unlock when you come closer. And in case of an emergency, you can press a power button three times continuously to send your location information and a message to a designated contact on the phone.

The watch uses a standard lithium-ion battery.

There's potential here. But I haven't been wowed by any of the smartwatches I've tried so far, and I'd have to live with Galaxy Gear for a while and see what it costs before recommending it to anybody. At $299 it would strike me as pricey, especially since anyone considering the watch is going to have to cozy up to the Note 3, too. That invites the possibility, it seems to me, of bundled marketing deals.

One thing seems certain: Smartwatches have clocked in and aren't going away. Qualcomm announced its own smartwatch today, joining new entries from Sony. And a host of start-ups led by Kickstarter darling Pebble, also compete in the space.